Pastor + Author
Are you in transition? Are you living in between one thing and another? If so, then beware! Because when we’re living in the middle, we often forget the past, turn inward, and drift off course.
Here’s a message I preached at my church on living in the middle by examining how God’s people have historically navigated this tension.
Are trials punishment from God? What’s the role of endurance and the testing of our faith? Is it more about our ability to do things or God’s ability to do things through us?
Here’s a message I preached at my church debunking this very myth, “God will never give you more than you can handle.”
It’s super simple and a fool proof way to increase meaningful connection with others around you during this weird season of masking and social distancing.
That’s it!
If you’re looking for book ideas, check out this list of 15 recommended books from LifeWay that are all on sale for under $8.
My newest book, You Are What You Do: And Six Other Lies about Work, Life, and Love is on the list for only $8!!
A couple years after getting married, Christina and I moved to Korea. Until then, though we had visited other countries, neither of us had ever lived outside of Canada. In fact, we were about to purchase our first home in Montreal, but when I got a job offer to work at one of the largest churches in the world—I’m not exaggerating, it was a church of 50,000 people—our priorities conveniently changed in an instant.
I found myself saying things like:
Isn’t this a once-in-a-lifetime sort of opportunity?
I’d be stupid to say no, right? After all, we don’t even have children yet.
This would skyrocket my career. Just imagine what this would look like on my résumé!
God has to be in this, otherwise, why else would I get such an opportunity?
I’m going to make such a greater impact there than I would here, so isn’t this a no-brainer?”
I’ve forgotten which of those phrases I said to Christina, which ones I kept hidden in my heart, and which ones I wasn’t even aware of myself, but that pretty much sums it up—and I’m not proud of it.
Within a couple months, we sold everything—including my beloved Volkswagen GTI—packed what we could in a few suitcases, stored what we could at Christina’s parents’ place, and bought a one-way ticket to Seoul, South Korea.
Christina enrolled in Korean lessons, was working with me at the church, and started her Masters in Counseling. I was pastoring, finishing up graduate school, and teaching English on the side. Life was good and things were fruitful. In fact, they were so fruitful that a year after we moved to Korea, we became a family of three!
So with our baby girl, we decided it was time to grow up and move out of our furnished apartment in the party district. We wanted to lay down roots, so we found a nice little two-bedroom apartment and furnished it ourselves. We even bought an oven, which wasn’t a normal appliance for a typical Korean home. Can you tell momma bird was nesting?
And by everything, this time I really do mean everything. A few months after moving into our new apartment, we lost our jobs, our closest friends, and our home. We lost our livelihood and everything was taken out from under our feet. In short, my ladder-climbing-résumé-building-career-rocketing adventure abruptly came to an end, and we had to move back to Canada.
Once the dust settled, I started wondering if we had somehow made the wrong decision. Maybe we were never supposed to go in the first place. Perhaps I incorrectly assumed that God was leading us (because of my mixed motives), when in fact, it was just a good opportunity.
What would I say to the doubters who thought we were making a mistake to sell everything and move halfway across the world? What would I say to my parents who were leery of us going in the first place? How was I supposed to support my wife and child now that I was without a job and essentially homeless? And why did I feel like someone had just punched me in the gut, stolen my keys, and driven off with my car? After all, it’s just a job, isn’t it?
[Read more…] about Is God Trying To Get Your Attention?
When we moved back to Canada last year, one of the first things that I did with my wife was sign up for a gym membership. When Christina and I were figuring out which gym to join, one of the sales associates decided to go with the “personalized” approach to try to “tailor” what his gym offered to our needs.
Anyway, he started with Christina and asked her what her goals were and why she wanted to join the gym. She said things like, “I’m thinking about doing a marathon,” “I want to stay healthy,” and other reasons along those lines. With quite the approving head nod, he wrote down her answers, made a few encouraging comments, and then turned to me. How about you Daniel?
I still remember his reaction to this day. When he heard my answer, it was utter shock. In fact, he stumbled over his words—not quite as long as Prime Minister Trudeau did when he was asked about President Trump’s response regarding the protests—but it was something like that.
“Chips. I love eating chips. I also love smoking meat on my BBQ. I just love eating. That’s pretty much the only reason I’m working out.”
We ended up joining the gym that day, and for several months, I made the commitment to not go into work until I first went to the gym—even if it was for only 30 minutes.
While I didn’t hit that goal 100% of the time, I actually did quite well.
For the first time in my life, I was working out more than once a week! My body, my health, and how I physically, mentally, and emotionally felt was the best it had ever been. And then COVID-19 hit. And then the gyms closed. And then grocery shopping got a little more complicated. (But, fear not, I still had my chips!)
In that moment, instead of hunkering down and just waiting for things to go back to normal, Christina and I decided to pivot and figure out a new rhythm and routine for exercise.
Although it seems like everyone and their mom are using this word, it really does encapsulate what we’ve had to do over these past few months. It’s either pivot or die.
There’s no going back to pre-COVID days. Yes, COVID-19 will eventually fade away, but it’s so deeply changed the fabric of our society and the way “church” looks, that even when we’re gathered together again it will be different.
Let’s think about that for a moment.
[Read more…] about Pivoting and Planning in a New Day of Mission